Intensity felt at the polls in Ventura County Tuesday

Bishop Broderick Huggins, pastor of St. Paul's Baptist Church in Oxnard, reacts as the MSNBC television network announces that Barack Obama won the Presidential election, at a party for Oxnard Mayoral candidate Irene Pinkard Tuesday evening.

Ventura County Star

Michelle Champion turned 18 on the last day to register to vote in Tuesday's election and wasted no time signing up.

"I'm allowed to now. I have a say in it, and I thought it was pretty exciting to be able to put my say in what happens," said the high school senior standing outside a Westlake Village precinct where she cast her first ballot.

Her aunt, Carrie Gaspar, 43, waited nearby, saying it wasn't important to her which way Champion voted, just that she did. "I believe in the system. I believe young people especially should be engaged and understand the issues that affect our lives," said Gaspar of Oak Park.

The county's nearly 427,000 registered voters got the chance Tuesday to help decide a host of issues and races, including whether to re-elect President Barack Obama or replace him with challenger Mitt Romney.

Expecting a close race, those at the polls said they felt an intensity not present in other recent elections.

"I think the mood is much more stressful in this election. I really feel like there are two competing visions for the country," Gaspar said. "Everybody's opinion needs to be heard, no matter where they are or which way their state leans."

Gaspar, a registered Republican, voted for Romney. So did her niece, who said the federal debt was one of her biggest concerns.

About 25 miles away, Alexander Rico, 21, walked out of Rio del Mar School in El Rio after casting his first-ever ballot. Having the chance to vote for president pushed him to get involved. He voted for Obama, as did his dad, Daniel Urango, who went with him Tuesday.

Urango, 54, said he told his son to vote, although it was up to him who to support. Urango said he votes in every election, hoping his ballot will make a difference.

The president has done a lot to help the country over the past four years and needed another term, Urango said. "It's important to keep moving forward."

Throughout the day, a steady stream of voters poured into polling places across the county, prompting Ventura County Clerk-Recorder Mark Lunn to predict turnout could come close to the county record of four years ago. In 2008, nearly 81 percent of registered voters came out for the presidential election.

"A month ago I felt that it would be a while before we would see that (turnout) again," Lunn said. "I don't know whether we'll get to 80 percent, but we'll get a lot closer to 80 percent than I would've guessed a month ago."

Lunn attributed the healthy turnout largely to the presidential race, but also to the roughly 10 local measures and 11 statewide propositions.

"This has been a hot national debate and there are lots of local races," Lunn said. "This is a ballot with more decisions."

Ten minutes after the polls opened at The PowerHouse Church of the Nazarene in midtown Ventura, 26 voters waited in line.

"I'm excited there are so many people," said Dan Long, a painting contractor waiting at the back of the line. "This is great. It's democracy."

Lelah Lombard, a day spa owner who lives a half-block from the polling place, said she was excited to vote in an election where the stakes seem so big. "It just feels like a big one," she said.

Dennis Culver, a poll worker at the Ventura Moose Lodge on Telephone Road, said he has manned precincts for about a decade and noticed a mood in the air Tuesday.

"People are much more serious today," said Culver, whose Country Lovers Western Dance Club members manned the precinct through the county's Adopt-A-Poll program. "You can tell it in their demeanor."

At the North Ranch Center in Westlake Village, the first voters showed up shortly after 6 a.m. By the time the polls opened at 7 a.m., a line had formed, said inspector Shari Ann Snelling.

Snelling recalled people being focused on the presidential race in 2008, but this time, more people seemed intent on completing the entire ballot.

Chris Evans and Jonathan Patrick were among nearly 50 people standing in line at Mountain Meadows School in Moorpark shortly after 7 a.m.

The friends belong to different political parties but chatted as they waited. Both said they were voting because they felt it was a privilege and a duty.

"I believe in democracy," said Patrick, 20, a student at Moorpark College who was planning to vote Democratic. "It's something our forefathers have died for us to have. Why would you give up that opportunity?"

Evans, 22, who was planning to vote Republican, agreed.

"It's our right to vote, our duty," he said. "We need to support our people we want to run our country."